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Notes / Commercial Description:
We took our award winning Siberian Night Russian Imperial Stout and aged it for 11 months in fresh bourbon barrels. The result blew us away. The dark chocolate malt yields a milk chocolate flavor that blends perfectly with the vanilla flavor from the barrel. The bourbon aroma adds the finishing touch.

Appearance: Pours fudge brown and covered by a thick mocha head; leggy, with spotty lacing all the way across the chalice

Smell: Roasted malt, dark chocolate and vanilla swathed in Bourbon

Taste: Roast and dark chocolate forward, with the Bourbon emerging to provide balance and vanilla, through the middle; all of the elements come together in the finish; a bit of tobacco in the aftertaste

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with moderate carbonation

Overall: A nicely aged bottle that is drinking beautifully; hides the alcohol well

T: Bourbon with a bit of caramel character. Chocolate, vanilla, and oak. A drying tobacco flavor in the middle. Dark roasted malts. It finishes with some hop and roasty bitterness and some ethanol sweetness with the bourbon on the exhale.

M: A thick and smooth body overall, but this can't stand up to the big boys in the RIS category. Almost creamy carbonation. The alcohol is noticeable, but not overly hot for this ABV.

O: Truly world-class? No. But very tasty. The mouthfeel could be better, and I wish the flavors had the depth of the aroma. But for an barrel-aged RIS packaged in reasonably-accessible small format bottles? Very nice.

Glugs slowly out of a 12 ounce bottle. Very dark, opaque pour with only the smallest wisp of a head.

Smells nearly identical to the non-barrel aged version of the stout: dark barley, red wine, alcohol. Pleasant but nothing otherworldly.

Tastes sharp and vinous: raisins and very dark chocolate up front, stout barley in the middle, and then wood aging comes in wonderfully at the end, lending a vanilla smoothness to the sharp stout. It masks its ABV quite well.

Pours viscuous and not quite black. Opaque with a thin chocolate colored head of foam that fell fast in the tasting glass. It's a deep cola color brown and is very sumptuous to look at because it is so sugary brown and not black. Bold coffee and vivid bourbon. Soft flowers and wood. Chocolate and fragrant vanilla. Cola . As this warms caramel gives the scent of walnuts. Earth and plummy dark fruit marry against hearty roasty malt. Burnt toast.

Taste is rich and creamy but silken and not too thick. No booze, no warmth until after the swallow. No alcohol on the palate at all. This one leaves with a sweet dryness and and drinks like a milkshake flavored with bourbon and char. Dark roasted coffee plays in a huge swath of caramel. Plummy dark fruit and bitter chocolate. Smooth as silk and has a deceptive mouthfeel. It is full but not thick. Graceful and very dynamic.

On tap at brewery:
Pours dark as night, with a mushrooming tan head on this pour. Head settles, but looks real good for a BA beer. It even supplies lacing.

Nose is bourbon, oaken vanilla, and a bit of coffee. Unfortunately to me, that coffee (or any roasted note) is fairly quiet in the back seat.

Taste luckily has a little more balance, but still leaves my palate thinking more of bourbon barrels than stout. Chocolate licorice, bourbon, weak coffee, vanilla if I analyze, a bit of a bourbon and coke impression if I'm not paying attention.

Was hoping for more from this, as I enjoyed the base beer. It seems to get lost in the barrel to me, which is unfortunate. It smooths a bit with warmth, but doesn't "regain" any roasted malt notes.

12oz bottle purchased January of 2015 with no date. Poured into a teku at fridge temp. Pours absolutely black with no light passing through even on the edges. A one inch tan head recedes to a ring with some lacing. Smell is muted bourbon, oak and vanilla. Taste is sharp bitter chocolate giving way to vanilla and oak with a hint of residual bourbon. Mouthfeel is a bit thin and carbonation is still strong. Overall, very good. I much prefer aged bourbon barrel stouts to fresh.